The use is well known, in implantology, of biomaterials of animal or human origin to be inserted in the body of a patient.
Despite the achievement of important targets in the production of prosthetic substitutes derived from the technology of materials and from the treatment of tissues of animal origin, the totality of the characteristics required of a permanent implant have still not been completely fulfilled.
In particular, biological tissues taken from an animal and suitably devitalized are commonly used in the biomedical field as implants or for the production of prostheses. For example, some bovine pericardium or pig's cardiac valvular tissue has been used for the production of cardiac valves.
For instance, the American patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,164 describes a cardiac valve whose cusps are made of a biological material explanted from the aorta of an animal or human being.
The American patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,593 also describes the use of a treated biomaterial which includes some peritoneal tissue.
Important disadvantages are currently associated with the advantages derived from implants made of animal tissues. To be considered among these is a possible antigenicity, a certain loss of the mechanical characteristics, and the biological degeneration of the tissues.
The efforts of interdisciplinary research are aimed at the search for new biomaterials and the realization of treatment methods of biological tissues capable of improving both the mechanical and biological characteristics.
Nevertheless, the use of this tissue type involves a series of problems since they contain fats and other substances that must be removed by complex treatment before the tissue can be implanted in the living organism.